Im having an issue with my 1983 dodge d150, there are two sets of wires that go into the airbox and without these plugged in the truck will not start. It has something to do with the emissions systems i think so if you have any suggestions please message me!

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1983 Dodge D150
225 Slant Six
Single Cab
Red

Plug them in. Your truck is equipped with a Chrysler lean burn system and won't run in its current state without those wires plugged in.

The lean burn system needs to be hooked up and functioning properly with all components in place to work properly. Randomly disconnecting and removing things because you don't know what they are or what they do will lead to poor performance and fuel economy.

The first thing you should do is get a factory service manual for your truck. The second thing you should do is study the factory service manual, especially the section about the computer controlled ignition and carburetor.

Most people that have a lean burn system end up swapping the ignition to an HEI system and the carburetor to a non-computer controlled carb. I recommend you do that in the long run, but in the short run you should get what you have working as well as possible.

Welcome to the board!

I will get you started, and hopefully some of the members that have converted their vehicle over can be more specific in what you need to do....

First off... your truck is equipped with Mopar's Electronic Spark Control system... the box on the air cleaner is your ignition and timing system... it replaced the traditional electronic Ignition system around the time your truck was made. In an EI system, roughly, the distributor uses a vacuum and mechanical spring assembly to control your timing with a module that will tell the coil when to fire the spark plug...

With the ESC system, roughly, the distributor no longer has the mechanical and vacuum systems in it and it's job is just to trigger the control module in the air cleaner, and move the spark from the coil to the plug... The ESC module decides what your timing needs to be from the vacuum line hooked to it (and a couple other inputs), and adjusts per load... in some models it uses two sets of pickups to have a start pickup then it switches to the other pick up for normal engine operation....

So here is what you have to decide....

If you want your truck to run per 'stock', the control unit on the aircleaner needs to be wired up and the vacuum line connected....

If for some reason the controller is dead/malfunctioning, or you just want to get rid of the ugly thing, you will need to convert your truck back to good old Electronic Ignition. The parts needed, will be an EI distributor with vacuum advance from a 1973-1980 car/truck/van for slant six... a stock 1976 would be a nice one to get and can be found on ebay from Old Car Parts Northwest... You will need a Mopar EI module and ballast resistor and will need a mopar EI wiring harness out of a junkyard vehicle... or you preferably can use a Chevy HEI module and do a simple wire up for that and skip the ballast resistor (there are some guides here and on the web...)

You also may want to get a stock non ESC air cleaner, and hopefully your carb is not a feed back version that is not wired to the ESC module, and has the screws to retune and adjust the mix after the conversion.

I had that once, let me think...yep its in the trashcan at the car wash where I swapped it out for gm hei module. (It was raining that day and no garage to do the swap)

If you have to have emmisions checks etc i dont know on that, but if you dont then Id scrap it. Run gm hei and be done with it. Simple install and great running too. Done mine on an 84 short box.

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225, Offenhauser, Holley 350, A833OD, 3:55, GM HEI,99 Durango starter
BOOSTED! WH1C, BIG FMIC, 10#
Operation Noble Eagle 03-05
Operation Iraqi Freedom 05-07
Operation Enduring Freedom 12- 13

Thanks Alot guys! that really helped, id really love to remove it in the long run just to free up more room and get rid of ugly wires!

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1983 Dodge D150

225 Slant Six

Single Cab

Red